A Different Kind of Story
by The Mother Rose
Summary: This is for those who think I know nothing of the show and the characters therein. It is not my typical type of fanfiction. There is no Sakura or Sasuke Bashing but neither are either shown in a good light.


**Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto Anime or any rights of the characters therein. That said, this fic is in answer to some critiques I recently got for another story I wrote in which I was lambasted as not understanding the Naruto verse at all. I was told that I had obviously never even watched the show or read any of the manga. This is to show that yes indeed I have and I know exactly how the real characters act as I still have to sit through the daily torture of repeats for my youngest son to get his fix and an hour worth of the show on Saturday. (it's repeat season) Do you? Anyway, review or not. It's your choice and I really don't care as I won't be writing another like this anytime soon.**

A Different Kind of Story

A Naruto Fic

For Those Who think Leaf Village is Great to Naruto

Naruto walked down the dusty sidewalk with his hands in his pockets. Though he tried hard not to see anything, he couldn't avoid all the scenes of happy families everywhere his eyes landed. Here was a Mother with her daughter looking in a shop window at pretty clothes. There was a Father laughing with his son as he tossed the boy over his shoulder. Here was a Mother and Father with both son and daughter entering a restaurant for a snack or a meal. Everywhere he looked he saw the happy image of what he didn't have. He continued walking, acting for all he was worth like the happy villagers with their families didn't affect him at all. But inside he was crying. Crying for what he had been denied at birth.

He had quit asking for information of his parents. It wasn't that he didn't want to know any more. It was that he knew no one would tell him even if they did know. The store keepers did their best not to see him unless he came into their shop for something. Then they'd watch him like a hawk, just waiting for him to get what he came for, pay for it and leave. Restaurants did their best to ignore him if he dared to come in for a meal or a snack, hoping he'd get tired and leave again before they'd have to actually serve him. Though he was free to go into any store or restaurant in the village, the attitude of the villagers towards him kept him from doing so. The only place that ever seemed happy to see him was the ramen stand so that is where he ate the most when he had the money to eat out.

His allowance from the Hokage's office was enough to see to his basic needs and allowed him to eat out about once a week. But that was only so long as he didn't have to clean up an attention-getting prank he'd pulled. His pranks were never harmful or destructive but they were expressive and said far more about a lonely little boy than he knew.

He had been ignored by everyone for so long that his pranks were a way of assuring himself that he wasn't really as invisible as they pretended he was. That he really did exist. It always worked too. After every prank they'd come looking for him if only to make him clean it up as punishment for doing it in the first place. It was negative attention but in his eyes it was attention and that was all that mattered because even negative attention verified his existence. He knew then that they did see him.

He strolled by a park without stopping. His classmates were there but though he was tempted he didn't join them. During school hours they were forced to acknowledge him but this wasn't schooltime and he wasn't willing to see them turn away and make up lies to get away from him. So he simply kept walking and pretended he didn't know they were there. He knew their parents had told them all to stay away from him as he was trouble just waiting ot happen.

When they were heard by the Hokage they always pointed to his pranks as their reason but Naruto knew it was something else. Something he wasn't suppoed to know about. Something that the hokage did know. Something that every adult in the village knew. he just wished someone would tell him. He was so tired of the whispers behind his back and the glances full of anger that turned away as he looked their way. It made him feel invisible even though he knew he wasn't. He wore the brightest most obnoxious clothes he could find just so they'd have to see him but still they ignored his presence. He felt invisible all the time. He was so tired of being invisible.

Soon enough he reached the small stream that flowed out of the village under the wall that surrounded them and kept them safe. From the edge of the water he peered downstream where he could see the water meet the wall. If the stream had been deeper he might have tried to swim under the wall just to see what was beyond this village but the water was too shallow. As small as he was he couldn't fit under the wall in the shallow stream. Still he liked to watch the flow of the water as it found it's way to freedom. In a way he identified with the small stream. It too was unappreciated. It flowed by every day offering the soft sound of it's tinkling music to soothe the weary hearts and minds of the villagers but few ever stopped to listen. It's water was pure and so clear you could clearly see the sand covered rocks on the bottom that the current of the rushing waters never seemed to disturb.

He often spent hours just sitting on the bank watching as the current swept along. Sometimes a leaf or a twig would get caught in the current and he'd watch wishing he was that leaf or twig. Which was silly because after all it was going away from where it belonged, never to return but still. . . It would get swept in the current under the wall and see a whole new world that Naruto had never seen. He had been told he wasn't allowed to go passed the gate in the wall until he passed the genin exam and got his team. Even then he was told he wouldn't be allowed out without his teammates and their sensei. It was a world he knew he might never see if he didn't managed to pass the exam at the academy.

Iruka, his teacher, just told him he wasn't trying hard enough. He said Naruto should be able to pass it easy enough if he'd just concentrate and do as he was instructed. But no matter how hard he tried he simply couldn't get the bushin to look like a real person. The stupid bushins just didn't want to form right and no one would tell him anything except he wasn't trying hard enough. All they ever said was he needed to concentrate more. He decided to spend some time practicing. Maybe if he just spent all his free time working on it, it would work right tomorrow when he needed to take the test. He had a sneaky suspicion this would be his last chance at becoming a ninja and he just had to be a ninja. Not only had he promised the old man but he knew if he didn't he'd spend his whole life just being ignored by the whole village. And it was bad enough that he was ignored now but how could anyone spend their whole life that way?

--At the Park--

Sakura sat under the spreading boughs of the tree she was named for, listening to her friend Ino expound on their favorite subject; boys. In particular Uchiha Sasuke. Both girls were head over heels for the stoic boy who rarely if ever smiled or showed any emotion but under the circumstances that wasn't surprising to either girl. They were sure that if they had been through a similar situation they wouldn't feel all that inclined to smiling either. Sasuke was the sole survivor of his clan and what made it worse, was that the murderer of his clan was his own older brother. Both girls envisioned themselves as being the one who would bring the smile back to Sasuke's face, which was handsome enough without it, but, they were sure, would be even more handsome with it. Neither girl thought the other stood a chance with their heartthrob and enjoyed nothing more than having explosive arguments to prove the Uchiha heir liked them better.

But for now Sakura wasn't listening. She'd just seen the Uzumaki Baka walking by and he looked like he was up to something. She wondered if he was preparing to prank someone again. It was really the only thing the baka was good at. Making other people annoyed with his pranks brought laughter to everyone who wasn't part of the prank. That and being stupid in class to make his classmates laugh were the only two reasons to pay attention to whatever the blonde-headed fool was up to.

"Sakura, are you even listening to me? . . . Hey!! Forehead Girl! Pay attention! . . ." Ino grew red in the face as she tried to get the pink-haired girl's attention. "What are you watching?" she asked, turning to see what had caught the other girl's fancy. She saw nothing and turned back with a puzzled look. She waved a hand in front of her friends face and waited until the green eyes came back into focus.

"What? Oh sorry Ino-Pig. I just saw the Baka walk by and wondered what he's up to now."

"Does it matter? He's always walking around town."

"I was just thinking about those pranks he plays and how funny they are so long as you aren't the victim of them."

"Yeah. He's pretty creative at them. I mean, come on. He gave everybody a laugh with that last one he did. Who ever thought to see the Hokage's wearing make-up? It was one of the best laughs I've had in awhile. And you know what? My Father says no one even saw him do it. He could have denied the whole thing but he didn't."

"Yeah. That's the way it was when he slipped into the Hyuuga compound and dyed all their underclothes too. No one ever sees him when he pranks people. I wonder how he does it."

"Don't know," Ino shrugged. "You'd think in that silly outfit he wears, everyone would always know exactly where he is but yet hardly anyone ever seems to know."

"I asked my Mom about that once." Sakura turned her thoughts inwardly. She was remembering the conversation.

"About what?"

"Why he wears that obnoxious color all the time? She said, and it was a weird response. I quote. . . "You noticed him didn't you? It's a terrible thing to be ignored all the time." Unquote. I still don't really know what that was supposed to mean. I mean I would have noticed him anyway because he's in our class. You would have also so . . ."

Ino said nothing. She understood the comment but that's because her father was on the council and the council was often tasked with dealing with Naruto and his multiple misdeeds. Her father said the boy just wanted to be noticed and for her to truly understand she would have to do the impossible. She would have to live a day of his life.

"Well, maybe we can catch him and stop him before anyone else gets pranked tonight," said Sakura. "Whatever prank he's planning on pulling tonight might be funny for us but that doesn't necessarily mean we should let him do it this close to the exam time."

"So you want to see what he is planning and get him in trouble before he has a chance to do it so that the villagers won't feel the effect of whatever his plan is? And thereby you think our instructors, who will be judging our exams tomorrow might go easier on us for catching him tonight before he has a chance to wear them out chasing him all over the village." Ino thought it over for a few seconds before hopping to her feet. "I like it. Which way did he go?" She held out a hand to help Sakura up. Sakura led the way out of the park and they headed off in the direction Sakura had seen Naruto going.

The two girls sauntered along the street looking carefully in every alley as they passed hoping to catch the blonde-headed prankster in the act. Sakura knew he'd get in big trouble if they did catch him and they'd both be considered to be semi-hero's for being the ones to catch him. Since it was her idea to track him, and therefore catch him, she thought being a hero would make her more likable to her idol as well. Too bad she'd have to share that status with her rival but at least she'd be one up on all the other girls attracted to her true love.

They found Naruto on the edge of the stream and it was clear he was trying to do something. What, they didn't quite know, so they hid in the bushes. After a few minutes five sick looking copies of himself poofed into being and they had all they could do now to blow their cover. The Baka was trying to do the bushin exercise! Both girls sniggered at how pathetic the copies looked. Two were relatively close to his own natural appearance but not close enough to fool anyone into thinking it was him. One was only half there being so vapory that a glance would see right through it. The fourth was laying down on the ground because it had no feet with which to stand. And the fifth one was only a top. No legs or feet on it.

From their hiding place they heard him sigh and dismiss the clones. Again he went through the hand-signs and again there was a major poof of expelled chakra. A giant sized Naruto poofed into being almost giving them a heart attack. The thing was huge and would have made about three NAruto's standing on each other's shoulders. But it was as much like him as it's sheer size allowed it to be. The same blonde hair and orange suit. Same everything as far as they could tell. It was just too big. Sakura was having a silent giggle fit beside her but Ino was confused. She had never seen anyone mess up a bushin before, minus when a student was just learning the signs and how to manipulate their chakra.

Again the boy waved it away and went through the signs. Ino watched carefully trying to see if she could tell what he was doing wrong. But the signs were correct. He was doing everything right as far as she could tell as he drew in his chakra for the jutsu. He was surrounded again by his sick looking clones. None of them had formed correctly. Some were to short, others too tall, some had no hair while others were too fat. A couple were too skinny and others like smoke. All total there were about twenty bushins surrounding the boy but none of them looked like him.

"What's he doing wrong Forehead," Ino whispered.

"How should I know?" Sakura sniggered again. "One thing is for sure though."

"What's that?"

"He isn't going to pass tomorrow. No way will he pass with that disgusting show of a bushin talent when he has nothing else to recommend him either." She smirked superiorly. "At least we won't have to worry about having to hold his hand as a teammate to keep him from getting us or Sasuke-kun killed." There was no doubt in her mind that she would be on a team with her love. Fate just wouldn't be cruel enough to deny her that after taking her father away from her already.

Ino frowned but said nothing. She knew Sakura was right but still she didn't like to see anyone trying this hard and still failing to do what they wanted to do. However the idea of not having him on the team with her and Sasuke-kun was enticing enough for her to keep her mouth shut. They continue to lay under the shelter of the bush watching as Naruto tried over and over again to make a successful batch of clones. Each time he cast the jutsu he'd summon between five and ten clones but none of them looked enough like him to pass the exam. Ino did note that the more clones he made the closer a couple of them would come to being a good facsimile but still she knew how picky the instructors could be and knew his bushins wouldn't pass muster. Finally tired of watching him the two girls crawled out of their hiding place backwards so that he wouldn't detect them and headed for home.

"Well, that was almost as entertaining as watching him get into trouble would have been," Sakura said. "I was sure he'd be up to no good."

"You make it sound like he's some kind of bully or something," Ino said disgustedly.

Sakura snorted. "No he doesn't bully anyone but he is a brat and exams would just go so much smoother if he wasn't even there. I mean, come on. Nobody in their right minds would believe those pathetic looking clones were any good. And his taijutsu is the worst in the class."

Ino said nothing. There wasn't anything she could say really. Naruto's taijutsu was some of the worst in the class and his ninjutsu wasn't any better. Also his written scores were terrible and that left only genjutsu which he couldn't detect or cast. He was going to fail and she knew it but Sakura sounded like it was a good thing and that, Ino just couldn't agree with. Something told her there was more to the boy than they knew. It wasn't anything he'd said, or anyone else had said, that convinced her of that but rather the attitude she saw whenever the boy was around. No one openly disparaged the boy but if you wanted to get somewhere unseen the best hope of doing it was to have Naruto go with you. She left her friend at the door to her parents flower shop since her family lived over the shop.

Sakura walked on to her own home knowing her Mom would be putting the finishing touches on dinner. "Hi, Mom," she called a few minutes later as she stepped through the front door. She removed her shoes and walked into the kitchen to see what was for dinner, talking a mile a minute. She told her Mom about the argument she had with Ino over Sasuke, never noticing the woman's frown at the mention of the orphan. And then she told her about trailing and spying on Naruto as he tried to do a successful bushin exercise. She was laughing so hard, she almost didn't hear her Mother question her.

Her Mother interrupted to ask, "Did you try to help him? Give him some advice or something?"

"No Mom. Why would I? I don't know why the exercise is so difficult for him? I mean it's the easiest thing in the world to do." She demonstrated by successfully flipping through the necessary signs and expelling her quickly gathered chakra. The three clones stood next to her and she said, "See? It's so easy no one who can draw on their chakra should be incapable of doing it. He can draw his chakra just fine so he should be able to do this. Therefore he has to be screwing it up on purpose." She looked at the table and saw it was already set so she added, "I'll be right back to eat. Gotta wash up. We were hiding under a bush to watch him." She never saw her Mother shake her head in disappointment.

At Ino's home the conversation was just a little bit different. Ino was asking her parents for possible reasons why a person could fail to produce a bushin if they were able to call on their chakra at will. She was thinking if she could find out what he might possibly be doing wrong she would run back to the stream and tell him so he could practice it correctly before the exam time. It wasn't that she liked the boy or anything. It was just she knew he would fail at everything else but if he managed to pass on this then maybe he'd feel better about himself and that would inspire him to work harder on everything else for next time.

Inoichi asked, "What brought up that question? I know you have no problem doing bushin jutsu."

"No I don't but Naruto does. And tomorrow is the exam. Sakura and I saw him at the stream practicing the jutsu. He was doing the signs right and summoning his chakra right from what I could see but still his bushins all came out wrong and I don't get it."

"How many was he able to form? The right way or the wrong way?"

"The first time I saw five but the second try he summoned twenty or so. We didn't count them but I'm sure there were about twenty of them that time. They were all wrong. The closest one I saw to what it should have looked like was about two and a half feet too big. It was Naruto only giant-sized."

"And if you were to use all your chakra do you think you could form twenty clones that all looked enough like the real you to fool an enemy? Or make a giant-sized copy of yourself?"

"Not hardly. I'm lucky if I can summon five," Ino snorted.

"And why is that?" asked her Dad.

"Because I don't have enough chakra for that many. To do that jutsu you have to put a certain amount of chakra into each bushin when you expel it from yourself. Doing five bushins takes almost all my chakra and trying to form more would leave me without enough to stay alive or make each one deficient on the amount needed to form correctly." She thought about that while she set the table for dinner. "Doing one giant-sized one I might be able to do but there would be no point in it as it could still only take on hit before it vanished and I would be useless afterwards as it would take most of my available chakra to make it."

As they took their places she said, "But Tousan, he wasn't always trying to make that many so if the problem with making twenty was that they didn't have enough chakra per clone than when he only summoned five or ten, he should have had the correct amount. Right?"

"Not necessarily, Ino. Doing a bushin technique is a requirement to pass out of the academy because of it's relatively low chakra cost. Most academy students do not have large reserves of chakra so asking them to do harder techniques is beyond them at their age. Sometimes though the technique can require too little chakra from a particular student and the instructors don't understand the problem so they don't seek to correct it. The instructors know the techniques they are teaching you do not require enough of your chakra that they need to teach you how to regulate it very well. But every once in awhile they are wrong." He stopped talking and let his lecture sink in while he ate his wife's excellent dinner. His wife didn't like the Uzumaki boy. Hardly anyone did but she definitely didn't like it when the dinner table conversation wrapped around the Kyuubi kid, as she called him when no one else was around.

"Well, from the sounds of it I won't have to listen to any more about him after tomorrow," she said now as a closer to a conversation she didn't like.

"Sorry Kaasan, but really I was asking about the technique and, since he's the only one I know who can't do it, it was natural to bring his name into it." Ino gave a deep nod of her head in her Mother's direction. "I meant no disrespect."

"Apology accepted, Darling. Just remember the antics of that boy are not fit conversation for the dinner table and that I and your father would prefer that you have nothing to do with him." She picked up her tea and smiled over the rim. "Tell me," she said after taking a small sip. "How was the poor Uchiha boy today? You were sure to be nice to him weren't you? He would make such an admirable match for you in the future." She had stars in her eyes as she imagined herself parading in front of her friends as the mother-in-law of the new Uchiha clan. She was so distracted by her daydream she failed to see the disgust in Ino's eyes or on her husbands face.

Ino didn't really like the Uchiha boy as he was too cold and unfeeling for her. His lack of emotion she found to be disturbing. Well his lack of a full range of emotions that was. He could still feel anger and scorn. Unfortunately he felt those for everyone he considered to be beneath him and that was everyone he met. She only fought with Sakura over him because it allowed her to spend time with her best friend since Sakura was so hung up on the boy she couldn't really see anyone else and because it made her mother happy.

She sighed, knowing full well it would be another five minutes before her mother rejoined the real world, and therefore wouldn't hear her. Her father did and patted her free hand in a buck up manner. She toyed with her food waiting for her Mother to focus again before answering. She knew the dream of her marrying into a high ranked clan was near and dear to the woman's heart but Ino would prefer to marry someone she could like if not love. While it was bad enough that her branch of the Yamanaka clan would die with her, she didn't want to be totally forgotten in the up and coming generations or remembered only because she gave birth to the next generation of a stuck-up snobbish clan.

"He was the same as always Kaasan," she said when her Mother looked at her expectantly. "He totally ignored everyone in the class except to laugh at those who messed things up, fell asleep or got the wrong answer. He disappeared at lunchtime so no, I didn't eat with him, not that he would have let me anyway. And after school he said he had to practice and that no, I couldn't come along so I went to the park with Sakura and the other girls who were also shot down. Some of the boys followed us and we sat around talking about the upcoming exam and who we think will pass and who'll be on our team and who won't pass at all." Everyone had been in agreement that Naruto would not pass.

After the meal, she helped her Mother with the washing up and then excused herself to her room so she could study for the written part of the exam. The same was happening at Sakura's house though her mother wasn't interested in whether or not the Uchiha boy noticed her or not. She was more interested in the antics of Naruto than in anything the Uchiha did. Sakura didn't really pay all that much attention to anything that wasn't Sasuke related though so she never heard much about the orange wearing orphan.

--Exam Time--

Naruto woke up late and had to run all the way to class. He'd stayed up late working on the bushin and he felt he had a reasonably good chance of getting it right. In the moonlight last night it had looked like he'd managed it twice at least but he knew that could have been a trick of the lighting too. But three bushins should be no problem for a ninja of his abilities and he really didn't understand why it was so hard for him. He had more chakra to call on than anyone else in the class and they could all do it so why couldn't he. It never occurred to him that it was precisely because he did have so much chakra that he couldn't form three simple look-alikes. As he rushed in the classroom door he was pleased to see he still had two minutes to get his butt in a seat and flew towards the only open one he saw.

It was only after he sat down and two girls came fighting through the door that he realized who he was sitting next to. The girls both saw him at the same moment and screeched in the same breath and at the same volume, "Naruto! Get out of my seat!" The thought of Naruto sitting next to her Sasuke-kun so enraged Sakura that she was able to get an elbow into Ino's gut and pushed her backwards allowing her to reach the desk where Naruto had not had time to move yet. She balled up her fist and knocked the boy out of the seat not even caring where the boy landed as she took the seat next to Sasuke. She simpered at Sasuke as she breathed what she thought to be a sexy, "Good morning Sasuke-kun. I hope you slept well. Are you ready to wow the judges today? I just know you will simply sparkle on our exams."

Naruto grimaced from the floor and rubbed his arm where she had slugged him. "Sheesh, Sakura-chan. Why'd you have to hit me so hard," he whined as he stood up to find another seat.

Ino came through the door and started arguing with Sakura over who's turn it was to sit next to Sasuke-kun while all the boys, including Sasuke, rolled their eyes. Naruto jumped onto the open back of an empty chair and peered at the Uchiha. For the life of him, he didn't get what the girls found so remarkable about him. He was dark and cranky all the time. He never smiled unless it was at someone else's misfortune and then you couldn't really call it a smile. More of a smirk that said he thought he was better than they were. He was definitely egostitical to the max but was that really something to be attracted to? He just didn't get it.

Another latecomer came rushing in and slid into the seat Naruto was perch on the back of. As a matter of physics, his action of jostling Naruto from the rear caused said boy to topple forward and because he was peering just as intently into the Uchiha's face as the Uchiha was into his said boys lip locked on the spot. The reaction from the class was pandemonium. The girls all screamed while both Naruto and Sasuke wiped their faces making disgusted motions and noises. The boys all cringed, knowing full well what was going to happen now. The next second Naruto was under a dog pile of girls all ranting and raving about how he had stolen their first kiss from them and how he was gonna pay for it. They were punching and kicking him for all they were worth with every word.

Luckily, before the beating could get too severe, the teacher came in calling the class to order. "Ok everyone in your seats. It's time to get the testing under way. First we'll do the written exam and then you'll go to the gym for your taijutsu match-up. Remember you don't have to win against your opponent. You just have to show an ability to use the stances. After taijutsu, you'll be released for an hour for lunch and then it's back here for your ninjutsu exam." Iruka looked around the class and saw everyone was ready. He passed out the written portion of the test and when everyone had their copy he said, "Begin. You have one hour."

Naruto tried his hardest. He thought he had gotten enough of the answers right to pass but he was still contemplating on a couple in the math part when the hour was up. He passed his paper in anyway knowing that in the overall he would have just been guessing anyway.

Iruka dismissed the class to Mizuki-sensei and they walked single file to the gym. Behind him in the line the Uchiha whispered, "I'm going to kick your ass, Uke, for earlier."

Then he was shoved out of line and had to wait until the whole line had moved ahead of him before he could start walking again. He didn't bother to respond to the threat because he knew it wasn't so much a threat as it was the truth if they got paired up to fight each other. The Uchiha got extra help from Mizuki-sensei on his taijutsu since he had no one at home to spar with now and because of that was very good at it. Naruto barely received any help and never after school even though he also had no one at home to spar against. Therefore his taijutsu was some of the worst in the whole class.

He took his place on the mats to the side of the dojo and waited for his name to be called. Unfortunately his name was the first one called and Mizuki-sensei chose to face off against him himself. He didn't have to fight a classmate at all. Guaranteed failure was Naruto's only thought as he did his limbering up exercises at the side of the match mat. Mizuki-sensei took the opportunity to explain to the class how the grading system worked. Three touches would end the match. If you failed to show you could effectively attack your opponent it was two points off. If you failed to show proper stance formation another two points would be deducted. If you failed to defend yourself properly it was another two points off. If you went out of the lines it was an automatic loss of the match and five points off. There were fifteen total points available so you needed a minimum of seven points to pass on the taijutsu part of the exam.

He then took his position on the mat and waited for Naruto to step inside. He had no intention of letting the boy pass taijutsu. He'd been messing with the kids stances all year and knew they were so messed up he'd lost seven out of fifteen points before he even put one toe into the ring. His only hope of passing was if someone else had already shown him how to correct his stances and he got lucky. Otherwise there was no way the boy would attack or defend himself properly either.

Sure enough it took exactly two minutes for Mizuki to make a fool out of Naruto but he decided to drag it out and give the kid a chance to properly defend himself before he literally hit the kid in the gut hard enough to send him out of the ring. Three minutes later they were pulling Naruto unconscious out of the wall where he had left a body sized impression.

The instructors grading the exam refused to fault Naruto for it saying that any of the students who took that blow would have wound up in the same spot. Therefore, he did not lose points for being knocked from the mat. He had managed to hit Mizuki a couple of times, though the blows were weak and ineffectual. He had also just barely managed to defend himself against one of Mizuki's showing-off attacks, allowing him to keep his points in those two areas as well. Therefore, he passed the taijutsu portion of the exam.

Mizuki wasn't happy as he called the next student forward. He was harder on that student than he had meant to be but still not as hard as he had been on the Kyuubi Kid. Though he did knock the kid out of the ring after getting two touches on him. The kid unsurprisingly failed his match-up and it was onto the next student.

After lunch it was back to Iruka-sensei's class for the ninjutsu exam. Naruto was a little dismayed when he saw Mizuki-sensei was going to help with the judging but the teacher had always seemed to like him before so maybe he wouldn't be as hard on him this time around. He crossed his fingers as he waited to be called forward.

Before beginning the last part of the exams Iruka-sensei passed out the graded written exams. It was disappointing but no big surprise to Naruto that even his name was marked wrong on his form. He had of course failed the test in a most spectacular fashion. After all, how many twelve year olds did you know who could misspell their own names?(**A.N. I swear I know more than one**)

One by one he watched the other kids get called to the back room to show what they could do. Some came out with smiles and the coveted headband while others came out downcast. Some, Shikamaru, just shrugged and shuffled to his seat. Soon enough it was Naruto's turn.

He was looking out the window with his head on his arms as he waited, lost in a daydream of the perfect team when his name was called. He had to be called twice before he heard. With a jerk he sat up straight, saying, "I didn't do it," before he realized. Of course the class thought it was hilariously funny and laughed as he realized he was being called to the backroom for the final part of the exam. He gulped but put on a brave face as he made his way down the aisle and into the small testing room.

He had to preform a henge, which he breezed through seeing as how he did those all the time to pull his pranks off, a kawarmi, which was also not a problem as he did that whenever he got caught running from the scene of a prank. It wasn't enough to prank the unsuspecting village or clan. He also had to lead his pursers on a merry goose, or in this case, Naruto chase. But the final one was his doom. Three perfect bushins. He got nervous as he called his chakra forth. Though he tried to form five bushins only three attempts materialized and of those three, one couldn't even stand up. The first one came close but the other two were disgusting.

His shoulders dropped and he didn't even wait to hear Iruka-sensei say he'd failed. He just turned and left the room. He didn't stop walking until he was under the tree where he sat on the swing watching as the other children were picked up by their parents. No one noticed him but then he didn't expect that they would. He was insignificant. He wasn't a ninja and those kids were. He was just a loud mouthed failure who'd never amount to anything.

Unknown to him several people were watching him as he sat there dejectedly swinging back and forth on the lonely swing. Iruka watched from the classroom window, Hinata from the walkway where her father was speaking with one of the instructors and Ino from nearby where she waited for her father to show up. Sakura had already sneered at Naruto's dejected silhouette before she ran off to go and tell her Mom the good news but Sasuke watched from the shadowy area where the street of the Uchiha compound met the street the academy was on.

Iruka was wishing the boy had tried harder. He knew the kid really wanted to pass this time but he just couldn't resist playing games to try and mock everyone else just to get a laugh. He sighed and turned away knowing full well there was nothing he could do about it. Naruto had failed on the easiest part of the exam and on the written part.

Hinata's Father finished speaking and started walking off just expecting her to follow along. She did and soon she couldn't see Naruto under the tree anymore. She dropped her head and hid her eyes as she followed her father to another tiring round of lectures and practice in the family dojo where she would be expected to outshine her baby sister. She would fail and be lectured again at her disgraceful lack of ability when she could be shown up by a girl five years her junior. It would just be another typical night in the Hyuuga compound.

Ino's Father finally showed up and he didn't even ask how she had done. He saw Naruto under the tree and raised a brow at his daughter. She shook her head with a frown. "Iruka-sensei said he did the kawarmi and the Henge okay but he decided to joke around on the bushins. I don't think he realizes Naruto isn't joking about them. He really can't do them, Tousan. But he did pass on the taijutsu. He kept just enough of his points that he was able to pass in spite of getting knocked out. Mizuki-sensei hit him too hard and knocked him out. Naruto flew out of the ring and into a wall so hard he left an imprint of himself there. The instructors made Mizuki-sensei angry though because they refused to deduct any points from Naruto for that. We were supposed to lose five points if we got knocked off the mat but the judges said Mizuki-sensei used too much strength and would have sent any of us out of the ring on that move so they refused to penalize us for not being full-grown yet. Anyway, that was the only part he passed." She handed her father the written exam she'd found on Naruto's desk after he left and he saw that every answer was marked wrong. How could the kid have missed all the questions? He folded the test to look over later after he'd seen his daughter safely home.

Soon the schoolyard was empty but still Naruto stayed on his swing. He didn't see a reason to go home. No one was there to miss him or wonder how he'd done. Old Man would want to know but if he didn't already know he would within a few minutes. Iruka-Sensei had taken a folder and headed off to the tower no more than an hour ago and Naruto knew it was a file of who passed and who didn't.

**Author Note: Ok folks I'm gonna quit here because this is just way too boring to continue. If you really like it that much just stick with the TV version or the manga. Although I have introduced thoughts from other people, to me, absolutely none of this is interesting. But for those of you who think, for some misbegotten idea, that I have never watched the show or any of the mangas, maybe now you will realize I have and why I don't normally write this kind of fic. I much prefer to write about what is implied in the show and what is hidden. If all you want is the show regurgitated, then write it yourself as I won't do it any more. lol I almost fell asleep writing this much.**


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